Fleeting
by Leylaniez
Summary: There are many stories about great loves, but fewer about great hates. It began as bickering, but that bore them so it ended in a cease fire. And eventually, something more. But these are only the bones of the beast. There is much more to the story of the Next Generation and two lovers who were in the crux of it. But like for the generations before them, life was only fleeting.
1. One: Fleeting

**DISCLAIMER: Just in case you have found yourself on a fanfiction website and randomly spazzed your way onto my story; this story isn't mine. The characters and universe were stolen from**** JK Rowling in ****green-eyed ****envy of her** supreme talent. Like a creepy next-door neighbor who taxidermies their dead dogs, I refuse to admit Harry Potter is over and will continue to write fanfictions until I crack.

**Chapter One: Fleeting (I know, same title as the story. Creativity just oozes from my ass like that.)**

**Albus**

The sun was blaring through the window, erasing all the shadows from a black haired wizard's face. His nose twitched in his sleep, and a rogue snore escape with an inhale. Maybe it was the snore, or his erratic internal watch, but he was suddenly jostled awake. His green eyes flew open, and shoved himself up causing his head to spin.

"Ugh," he slumped back onto his head board and groped his bedside for a wristwatch. Finally finding it, he brought it underneath his nose to check the time.

"BLOODY HELL!"

He flew out of bed and began to frantically look around for a pair of pants. When he found one, he shook the flannel ones off his legs and considered for a moment to change his boxers. Unfortunately, there was no time. He hectically sniffed the shirt he was wearing and deemed it fresh, but admittedly quite tangy.

Luckily he had packed most of his stuff the night before, but he still had to find the Marauders Map. He had tried to find it the night before, but got tired and decided to wake up early the next morning to renew his search. Even after checking every crevice, the allusive map was still missing.

"LILY!"

A short redheaded girl peered through his bedroom's door.

"What is it Albus? You do know we have to leave in ten minutes?"

"Yes, yes! But the map! Do you know where it is?" He asked impatiently.

"Why would I need a map of Hogwarts? I try avoid all school related things during the summer."

"Does James know where it is?"

"James already has the map memorized like the back of his hand," she replied while strolling into the room. His sister was halfway through eating her breakfast, which was just a slice of toast. Unlike him, she was carefully put together for her first day back to school. She had even gone through the pain of doing her makeup and curling her hair.

"You look awfully pampered."

"Thanks, _assuming_ you mean I look nice. Couldn't go to school looking like a mess," she smirked, regarding his rumpled outfit.

"Yes, well it would have been nice if someone woke me up earlier!" He replied sharply. "By the way, are you still trying to become friends with those awful girls?"

Lily glared at him, "they aren't awful, at least not to me. You didn't seem to mind them when Dominique was their friend."

"Well Dominique is only my cousin, therefore less of my responsibility."

"What exactly does this responsibility entail? Besides being overbearing and bedraggled?"

Albus sighed and put his hand on his sister's shoulder, "it makes me responsible for telling you that I think they're a poisonous bunch and I would much rather you stayed far, far away from them."

"You mean stay away, and hang out with Rose and her friends?" Lily asked him, delicately shrugging his hand off her shoulder.

"Sure! Hang out with Rose and Camille."

"Ugh," she moaned, echoing her brother from before. "It's weird Al! Our entire family only interacts with one another! We need to branch out."

"We do not," Albus said defensively. "Rose hangs out with Camille, and I am best mates with Lysander."

"He doesn't count, he's basically family!" Lily said. "For instance, I know from his mother, who visited last week, that he borrowed your binder and needed to return it. I also know from _you_, that your binder has–"

"the map in it…" he sighed. "Well I suppose, that mystery has been solved."

**Lysander**

Lysander was lying on his bed, wearing a pair of mismatched shoes. Of course the mismatching had been on purpose. Both were size ten Converse and had white laces, but one was red and the other was yellow. That way he had four shoes to mix and match as he pleased.

Apart from his outfit, there were many interesting things about Lysander's setting. For instance, on his wall he had the cover of every _Quibbler _which he wrote an article for. On what should have been his desk, he had an assortment of rocks, some were large and sharp and others were small and rough. There was also an elaborate and yellowing map on his bed, right bellow his nose.

He was diligently scrutinizing every dot on the map. There weren't very many since it was still before the start of the term. There were only a few professors. Two dots that belonged to his professors, Professor Grewt and Professor Marcel, were very closely together behind the one-eyed witches' statue; presumably in a passionate embrace. The dots slowly inched towards a nearby broom cupboard. Before things could move along further, Lysander folded up the map and tucked it deep into his robe's front pocket.

"Disgusting," he muttered to himself.

"Yes it is! We have less than ten minutes to floo to the Train Station!" His brother's voice yelled. Lysander spun around to face him while his unidentical twin brother, Lorcan, fumed in the doorway.

"You don't say?"

"Yes, now get up or I'm leaving without you!"

"Please do, all this yelling is giving me a migraine," Lysander responded, theatrically rubbing his temples while getting out of bed. Lorcan's jaw clenched.

"You're lucky Mum and Dad aren't here or they would be pulling your hair out," Lorcan said crossly. Lysander doubted this, since the only time his parents expressed anger was when one of their obscure magical creatures fell onto the endangered magical-animals list.

"It's a good thing you inherited all the good hair then," he responded nonchalantly, while putting on his leather hiking backpack.

"Is that all you're bringing?" Lorcan asked nonplussed. "Where's your trunk?"

"Oh, I've moved on from that clunky old thing, I don't need much to keep myself running these days," Lysander said back to him.

"Aren't you bringing too little?" Lorcan asked with concern. Lysander, exited his room, and Lorcan followed close behind.

"Some of us don't need to cart around a ton of hair mousse with us, _Tousle me Softly _was it called?" Lorcan blushed a deep shade of red. Lysander continued, "I also find my load to be infinitely lighter when I have fewer secrets to carry around."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Lorcan inquired curtly. They both went down two flights of stairs into the living room.

"Come now brother, you've sent poor Elrond to deliver a message every night," he said, referring to the family owl. "The only two plausible explanations are: you're planning an underground revolution and are keeping touch with your fellow renegades, or you're romancing a new girl."

"How did you know?"

"Call it a young boy's intuition," Lysander said, while scooping a sparkling dust from a small pot on the mantel.

"Are going to tell–"

In that moment, the other brother disappeared into the fireplace with the words "Kings Cross: Nine and Three Quarters" and a green flame. Lorcan was left behind in their living room looking at the shrinking flame, with a feeling of guilt stewing in his stomach.

**Rose**

"ROSE WEASLEY! YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE!" A shrill voice echoed through the house, and landed in Rose's already-sore eardrums.

"IN A MINUTE MUM!" Rose replied back, no less shrilly. The girl had inherited many things from her mother; a shrill voice being among them. Other things included her mothers unruly curls, a quick mind and admittedly large front teeth. Her mum had allowed her to shrink them before her first year of Hogwarts, but they still had managed to be a millimeter longer than all her other teeth. Her quick mind had been a result of rigorous studying in her childhood, and had manifested itself as the Prefect badge she had received in the mail a month previously.

Though many people liked to compare her to her mother, she definitely had inherited more the Weasley side of her family. For example, the previously mentioned unruly curls were a bright red, and her nose was rather long and pointed like her fathers. Lastly, she hated to admit it, she had also inherited the Weasley temper. Though sometimes she wondered if she got that from her mother too…

"ROSE CEDRELLA WEASLEY! YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"

There was definitely a high chance of that…

There were less than ten minutes to make it out the door and on the train, so both her and her brother opted to floo. They both said their goodbyes to their parents in front of the chimney.

"I wish we had time to drive you," a worried Hermione said to them.

"Most kids go by floo anyways. Once they turn fourteen at least," Hugo responded.

"And most families have no souls," Ron Weasley responded grimly, patting his son's shoulder. "We'll pick you up during winter break. And we'll write every week."

"Don't forget to write! Especially you Rose!" Her mother warned. She sighed a "yes mother" while Hugo stepped into the fireplace.

Her brother's face contorted and he yelled "Platform nine and three quarters, London" while throwing a fistful of glittery dust onto the ground. Rose idly wondered if the glitter actually had any magical properties, or if the inventors of floo were just fond of arts and crafts.

Rose went after him. Her last view was of her mother and father smiling at her, before she too disappeared among the green flames.

Rose stumbled gracelessly out of the fireplace and nearly tripped on the ground, before a pair of arms caught her.

"Careful, there's a loose brick."

She peered up at her savior, and for a moment her heart gave out. He had bright blonde hair, a pair of warm brown eyes, and a goofy grin planted on his face.

"Heavens! I thought you were Lor–" She stopped abruptly, realizing how pathetic she sounded.

"Lysander, but it's a common mistake. People usually think he's me, only with a bad cold and a skin infection," he grinned, while helping upright her.

"It's bloody difficult hauling a trunk through the floo. Have you seen Hugo?" She asked, peering over his shoulder to scan the crowd of people surrounding the Hogwart's Express.

"Already on the train."

"So much for family loyalty," she sighed. "What about the Potter clan? If they're already on the train too, I might as well disown myself."

"Nope, I'm assuming their right behind you since Lily is always late. But never this–"

Right in that moment, a redhead came crashing onto her back out of the fireplace.

"Lily! Are you okay?" Rose asked, uprighting Lily as she cursed under her breath.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone by floo! My hair and clothes are ruined!" She moaned while trying to whisk the dust off her pretty pink cardigan.

"Don't forget your face," Lysander piped up cheerfully. "Where's your bro–"

And James came crashing out the fireplace too. Colliding onto all three of them.

"Not that one!" Lysander complained while trying to upright himself. Rose's arm was pinned under Lily.

"MOVE BEFORE IT'S TOO LA–"

Before the word "late" had a chance to escape Lily's lips, Albus Severus Potter fell onto their pile, making their quartet into a quintet.

"Ow," Albus said, though Rose didn't know why. It wasn't like he was the one with his face smooshed under a trunk. And there was a strange sensation coming from her nose…

"Up. Up. Up." Rose yelled at all of them. They all scrambled off of her, and she pulled herself off the ground. Her head spun for a moment as she sat up. Then she caught sight of the everyone's identical looks of horror.

"What?" She asked panicked, her eyes darted to the ground, where her head had been seconds before. There was a small puddle of blood. Her hands flew to her head.

"Not your head Rose… it's your–"

"Wow, Rose Weasley. Looking good!" a voice mocked, Rose spun around to find the wisecrack.

"Tamsin Nott," she just sighed it response, the pain in her nose began to grow.

Tamsin Nott was standing three meters away from their group, next to another girl in her year: Holland Vane. Tamsin was the head of the sort of stereotypical click you found in schools. She fit the stereotype through and through: perfectly coiled black hair, pristine makeup and a notorious family history. She also acted like she was the hottest thing in the British Isles, the most annoyingly, it was probably more in self-awareness than from an inflated ego.

"I would have suggested a specialist; but I guess any alteration, no matter how bad, is better than what you had before."

Then again, a hideous personality did a lot to ruin otherwise perfect looks. Rose threw her head back and laughed, while trying to stem the flow of blood.

"A broken nose and a complement so early in the day! Pinch me I must be dreaming!"

Tamsin's nose wrinkled, and she turned her eyes away from Rose, evidently done with their banter.

"Lily, are you coming along? The train is about to leave," Tamsin asked the youngest cousin. Lily's eyes shifted from Rose to Tamsin, who was already turning away to get on the train.

"Sorry! I'll try and talk to her! She probably doesn't mean it!" Lily scampered off, leaving Rose with one last apologetic look.

"Why am I not surprised?" Rose muttered, while Albus, James and Lysander converged on her.

"I tried to talk to her about it earlier today, but for some reason she is adamant about remaining friends with them. Shouldn't we fix your nose or something?" Albus asked with concern.

"Do any of you know how to repair a nose?" James asked. "I would offer but I only know about knee caps."

"Knee caps?" Rose questioned. "I'd rather not risk it. Apparently, my nose can't handle looking any worst."

"Your nose is fine," Albus reassured her.

"Let's get on the train. Albus and James, you guys get our trunk and but them in the cargo. I'll get Rose on the train and find someone who knows how to fix noses," Lysander instructed, and they all hurriedly got to their tasks.

Lysander and Rose stepped onto the train, Lysander held out a scarf for her to use as a gauze. She brought it up to her nose gratefully. Her sleeve had been completely soaked through with blood.

Rose's face was a bright red as she walked through the trains hallways. People peered through their compartment windows, and if they had the good grace to ignore her, Lysander would knock on their compartment door and ask if anyone knew how to fix broken noses.

The answer had always been no.

"Lysander! I don't have time for this! I have to go and find the Prefect's compartment," she panicked. It was the first meeting of the year, and she was eager to give a good impression.

"You don't think they would understand? You're gushing like a decapitated House elf."

Rose shook her head.

"You also have to be at the compartment right?" Rose asked him. Lysander had also gotten the badge. While he may have been hyper, with a mild touch of ADD, Lysander was probably one of the smartest boys in Ravenclaw. He, however, did not seem to like Rose's idea of pressing ahead.

"No offense, but you look like a serial killer. We at least need to get you cleaned up."

She pulled out her wand from her backpack and waved it, cleaning up the blood easily. Then looked at him expectantly. Lysander sighed in resignation. They continued their walk through the hall, and dodged passing students. Though "dodged" might be glorified term what they actually did, since people gave them a relatively wide berth when they saw Rose's bloody nose.

"I could try a healing spell on myself. I'm quite good at them."

"You're good at everything, but self-healing is Auror level charms," he said, while leading her to the front of the train (usually where the Prefects chose their compartment). "I think I was supposed to tell you something by the way, but I'm having a hard time remembering what."

"Well, seeing as you haven't told me yet, I can't help you there," she replied. "Oh! I think this is it!"

They slid open the door, and everyone in the compartment stared at her and Lysander. In the compartment there was Scorpius Malfoy, Tamsin Nott, and Lorcan Scalamander. Rose's nose began to drip onto the floor, breaking the fat silence.

Lysander sauntered onto one of the empty seats and put his arms behind his head.

"So what did we miss?"

**Scorpius**

He had been in the Prefect's compartment for five minutes when Rose Weasley and Lysander Scalamander opened the compartment door. Scorpius hadn't particularly wanted to be Head boy. His indifference was further augmented by the merciless teasing from his friend, Frank Zabini, the entire summer. Whenever Scorpius was in the least bit of a bad mood, and took it out on him, Frank would say "what are you going to do? Dock points?" This affectively shut Scorpius up. So it came as no surprise to him that Rose Weasley would also be a Prefect. Apparently all bad things came in twos.

It made him question what horrible acts he had committed in his past life that caused him to be dealt this hand in life.

Tamsin didn't seem too pleased about it either, because when the compartment door opened she audibly said, "you've got to be kidding."

Though Scorpius wasn't sure if she was talking Rose Weasley being made a Prefect, or Rose Weasley holding a bloody rag to her nose.

"So what did we miss?" asked the other Scalmander twin as he fell onto the seat right next to him. Tamsin stiffened at the proximity. She always thought he was a little gross and Scorpius had to agree. The boy smelled of donuts and fertilizer.

"Nothing, except that you're late to your first meeting," said the Head Girl, Veronia Herald. "Rose are you okay? Is your nose broken?"

"Yeah, it's fine. It barely hurts anymore. I was just going to get it fixed when I got back to the castle," she replied, waving away the Head Girl's concern. Unsuccessfully.

"Does anyone in this compartment know how to heal a nose?" she asked around helplessly.

"Shouldn't you? You are a 7th year whose trying to become an Auror," Tamsin replied haughtily.

"Well, I haven't completed the 7th year yet," she replied unperturbed. "Anyone?"

"I do." Scorpius had considered staying silent, but apparently he had some retribution to serve to avoid becoming a slug in his next incarnation.

"Excellent," she replied.

"No! I mean, no, it's fine. Really. I'm sure Madam Pomfery can fix this in a jiffy. I'm not sure if I'd want inexperienced hands dealing with my nose anyways," Rose replied hastily. Scorpius had to prevent himself from rolling his eyes.

"I've healed three noses in my life. The first time was in the third year. I think I can handle it."

"I'm sure you did a marvelous job," Rose said. "I, however, do not want to risk it."

"Rose, you are disrupting this meeting," Veronica injected. "Have Scorpius heal your nose for goodness sake. Be reasonable."

Rose seemed to be fighting an internal battle, "okay, fine."

_Drama Queen_.

She sat down in the only empty seat left and cringed as he walked in front of her.

"Can every one move please?" Scorpius said, referring to Lorcan Scalamander who was sitting next to Rose looking concerned.

"Look, I'm not sure if this is the best idea," Lorcan said as he moved over. Scorpius wondered why he was even cared, until he remember that the two of them had dated last year. Scorpius didn't reply, and knelt down to face Weasley. She stared at him with an expression of distrust.

"You're going to need to lower that rag," he said to her.

"That's my scarf, not a rag," an offended voice stated from behind him.

"Wonderful," Scorpius replied.

Weasley still had the rag on her face.

"Look, it can't be that bad. If it was, you'd be bawling on the ground."

Finally she lowered the rag, exposing her nose. It was swollen and a large amount of blood was smeared around it. Scorpius focused on her nose and it looked like only her septum was broken. He held up his wand to her face, she twitched.

"Hold still," he grumbled, grabbing her chin to keep her in place. She finally did, and he nonverbally healed her nose. It wasn't till it Rose let out a sharp breath that he realized he had been holding his breath as well. Her face was still covered in blood and reached areas which almost seemed impossible to reach if it had been a normal nose bleed. But Scorpius assumed that she had spread it by holding the rag to her nose.

The entire lower section of her face was covered in blood. Even her lips. But they were a darker red, which made Scorpius think that it may have been their natural color. Her eyes also stood out against the massive amount of scarlet. In that moment, they were peering at him. It made him realize that he had been standing there for an unnecessarily long time, and just staring at her. He was also still holding her chin.

"Scourgify," he muttered, and drew back to his seat.

"Thanks," Rose sighed in relief, falling back into her seat as if she were exhausted.

"Well, that took longer than usual," Tamsin accused. "Seems you're loosing your touch."

"It was a bad break," Scorpius explained.

* * *

She was better than beautiful, she was the sunset. Her orange hair for the sky. The blood for clouds. The scarlet of her lips for the sun. Her blue eyes would be the ocean, as cliché as that is. Only she doesn't make it dull. It makes me rethink every ocean I'd ever seen, swearing that none had ever been so blue as those eyes. And her teeth, those would be the stars.

So beautiful and so distant.

* * *

**Well thanks for reading to the end. This story began as another called "Demolition Lovers" but I really wasn't happy the way it was heading. At first I had planned on going through and editing it, but now I've decided to start completely fresh on a new story! Similar characters, similar plot lines and same humor, but with a few adjustments. First off I fleshed out the character more, and gave them actual personalities, and then I plotted out the general outline of the entire story. I actually like DL but something wasn't quite right about it. Now I'm planning on writing a lot for this fic, and will hopefully be posting more soon!**

**Any Comments/Reviews/Follows are appreciated. If you read DL, tell me what you think of this? Better or worst?**

**Thanks!**


	2. Two: Wondering

**Disclaimer: Once again J.K.R. owns this sh*t. That was the only bleeped naughty word you will get, and from now on things will get a little more crazy. Buckle up amigos.**

**Chapter Two: Wondering**

**Rose**

Rose hadn't ever been in a meeting before, so it was so exciting experience even without the extra embellishments. Embellishments in the form of excellent company. Like that of Tamsin Nott, who kept glancing at her as if her nose might start spouting blood again. Incidentally, her broken nose had been fixed by her other arch nemesis Scorpius Malfoy. It wouldn't haver been a stretch to call him the male carbon copy of Tamsin Nott, only with bleach blonde instead of ink black hair. But luckily there was no need to settle for one or the other, both had gotten a badge! Sweet glorious day.

Lorcan Scamander, Lysander's unidentical twin brother, also had become a Prefect. Him and Rose had shared a history, for about two years actually. They had just broken up last year before the end of the year. What was most troubling about the entire experience was that it had been after they slept together. She was holding it together, but every once in a while her eyes would slide over to him and a feeling close to motion sickness overtook her.

Lorcan didn't seem to find their proximity troubling at all. If fact, he had been concentrating on the Head's, who were speaking, the entire time. That's probably what Rose should have been doing…

"So now that we've gone over everything dull, shall we move onto the more exciting bits?"

"My bits?" Lysander whispered.

"Excuse me?" The Head girl asked in disbelief.

"Oh sorry! Sometimes my mouth says things without getting my brains permission first!" Lysander said in apology, clasping his hands together to emphasize his plea. "It won't happen again."

She sighed and looked at the Head boy, who promptly took over.

"As you know, we try and do something exciting every year," Davis said, running his hands through his dark hair. "Especially for the upperclassman who are under considerable amounts of stress."

"Amen," Lysander piped up. Lorcan rolled his eyes, while the Head girl gave him a stern look.

"But unfortunately, we haven't really come up with any ideas," he admitted.

"Thanks for the announcement," Tamsin muttered while crossing her arms.

"I was getting to that part," he replied. "I was actually hoping for your guys' input."

There was a deafening silence, many looks were exchanged between Prefects of the same house. Rose shuffled in her seat.

"Doesn't the event usually take place at the end of the year?" Rose asked.

"Well yes, it still is. But more time for planning allows for a better final product," Davis said while clasping his hands together. "At least better than last year's fiasco."

Every muttered in agreement.

"So any ideas?"

There was a fat pause before Albert spoke up.

"Most of us have to study for our exams at the end of the year…" Albert, the Hufflepuff Prefect, said nervously. "Planning these sorts of events take a rather long time."

"Yes, well we are an entire group."

"Actually Davis, I'm not sure if planning this as a group is a good idea," Veronica interjected. Davis spun around surprised. "Especially after the mess that created last year.

"Well if you have a better idea, by all means," he said.

"Maybe each of you should partner up, and come up with a proposal. You can present them before winter break and we can have a school wide vote after that."

It sounded exhausting to Rose, students would probabley end up voting for a ball anyways. The Hogwarts crowd was really into balls. She turned to Lysander, to confirm their partnership. He grinned in return.

"Well, it seems settled then!" Davis concluded. "Now all of you get back to your compartments!"

**Lily**

Lily sat uncomfortably on the edge of her seat, not sure how she should position herself. Everyone else in the compartment had impeccable posture, except for Frank Zabini, who was slouched over reading a quiddtich magazine. Holland Vane leaned towards him and pretended to read too, though after a conversation with Holland, it was evident she had little no idea how quidditch worked. Annabel Belby had been sitting in the compartment as well, looked out the window.

Just as Lily decided to go find her cousins, the sliding door opened. Tamsin walked in with Scorpius Malfoy, who was already dressed in his Hogwarts uniform. Lily looked down at her outfit, which she had carefully picked out the night before. It was a soft pink cardigan and a pair of white jeans. Though both had traces of scoot from flooing. She unconsciously dusted them off, while Scorpius chose the spot closest to her.

"Ugh, you won't believe our Prefect's meeting," she grumbled. "Nearly threw my badge at the Head Girl's face."

"Don't tell me?" Frank guessed. "The jets in the Prefect's bath tub only have one setting? Or maybe they didn't throw you a party for being super special snowflakes?"

"Don't be smart Zabini," she said with comtempt. "The Ravenclaw girl Prefect is Rose Weasley."

Frank Zabini gasped in fake horror.

"Do explain why you hate her so much," Frank asked, he was one of the few people who openly antagonized Tamsin. Most were too fearful of her wrath which often follow such jibes.

"One, she's ugly. Two, she is a self righteous prude. Three, it's my duty to be a good friend and hate her," Tamsin replied and turned to smile at Annabel, who finally turned her grey eyes away from the window.

"Oh Tamsin, you really don't need to. I'm not particularly keen on starting anything with her," Annabel said.

"It's too late for that," Tamsin intersected. "Do you really think that Rose Weasley will simply allow you to go out with her ex, three months after they broke up? If I know anything about the girl, she'll only let go of him when she is dead. Even dead, you'd need to pry him from her cold and swollen hands."

"Do you actually know anything about the girl?" asked Scorpius, who was also one of the few people who argued with Tamsin. In contrast to Frank, whose aim was to irritate, Scorpius tried a more diplomatic approach in discussions with Tamsin.

"She's not that complicated," Tamsin said. "And I just hate seeing her strut around the school like she's the anointed queen of everything magical."

"Is that why you teared the mickey out of her earlier? When she broke her nose." Scorpius asked her, leaning back in his seat.

Lily liked him more than Frank, who had gone back to reading his quidditch magazine. Where Frank's personality lacked, his looks made up for it. The best looking boys in the year, according to Tamsin, were Scorpius and Frank ( and Louis Weasley, though he wasn't friends with her). Tamsin liked to collect good looking boys, but for some reason she never dated any of them. She only kept them around like pretty little dolls to look at. The rest of Tamsin's friends, like Annabel and Lily, who could hypothetically go out with them, didn't because they suspected that there was an unspoken agreement that the boys belonged to Tamsin. The three of them had known each other since they were born. Which was a bond hard to compete with, or even understand. Lily did though. She had her brothers and cousins...

The thought jolted Lily. She was supposed to be trying help her cousin Rose, and perhaps extract an apology from Tamsin. Yet she had been sitting in the compartment like a vegetable. Lily focused on the conversation in the compartment to get her next in.

"…that was just a warning, that we wouldn't be on civil terms this year," her eyes flashed between the pair of boys. "Do I sense that you don't despise Rose Weasley nearly as much as you should?"

"She's fit," Frank as if it answered the question for him.

"No she isn't!" Holland said. "She looks like a great big lump, with carrot shavings as hair!"

"And I don't care about her," Scorpius said.

"You cared enough to fix her nose," Tamsin said with a poisonous smile. "Don't you think that's inappropriate Lily?"

She jumped at her name, "erm, I don't know. I mean I do know, but I can't really tell anyone how they should or shouldn't lead their lives…"

Frank roared with laughter. "Sometimes I wish you were the head of this little click!"

Tamsin stiffened.

"Well, I wouldn't want that of course. And it's not really a click anyways. We're all just friends," Lily said rather quickly.

"Of course," Tamsin conceded, "we're all just friends. And good friends try and help each other any way they can."

"Sure," Lily replied nervously.

"So, why don't you run along to your family's compartment?" Tamsin asked. "And then maybe you can help a friend out? See if Rose has talked to Lorcan this summer?"

"She's best mates with his brother," Lily said. "They probably crossed paths."

"Then make sure there haven't been any _intimate_ conversations."

"Really though, Lorcan and I just started going out," Annabel complained. "If you two go ahead with your plan, you're going to paint me as some sort of fuhrer girlfriend."

"Don't worry," Tamsin reassured the other girl. "It will be very subtle. I'm just making sure no one finds out. With your permission of course."

Annabel looked at Tamsin for a minute, while folding a napkin in her hand nervously.

"Okay then," she finally responded. Tamsin's face finally broke into a grin.

"Excellent. You know what to do Flower."

Evidently, Lily was being dismissed.

"Bye Lil," Annabel said as she stepped out.

Lily into the hallway in relief. Sometimes being friends with Tamsin could be exhausting. Though she still hadn't managed to get an apology from her, or an indication that Lily might take issue with her hostility towards Rose. She passed ten compartments before she finally found her family.

"Lily!" Albus cheered. "Where have you been? Oh wait! That's right! With Tamsin Nott, Scorpius Malfoy and Frank Zabini. How go the plans of world domination?"

"Sod off Albus," Lily said pushing his legs down from the seat, to make space for herself. "I'm not in the mood."

"Trouble in paradise?" He asked, Rose gave him a look of warning. "Oh come on Rose! She's friends with the girl who told you that you should get a nose job!"

"I talked to her about that," Lily interjected, while cutting her brother with a glare. "She apologized."

Rose sighed, "many thanks."

"Anyways, what have you been up to in here?" Lily asked, gazing around the compartment. There was Albus, Lysander, Louis Rose and Camille in the compartment. Basically her entire family. There were other people in her family who were still in school, but most of them had assimilated to the population.

Her older brother James was probably sitting with the Gryffindor quidditch team, which he was a part of. Her cousin Dominique was probably with her boyfriend or her Hufflepuff friends, since she wasn't sitting with Tamsin or the rest of their family. There was also Roxanne, her other girl cousin, who was probably sitting with her Hufflepuff friends as well. There were the two youngest, Hugo (who was technically her age but three months younger) and Molly, who was just in the third year.

"Have you been together the entire time?" she added in.

"Yes we have, except when Rose and Lysander had to go to the Prefect compartment," Louis said, while eating from a pile of sweets. "Chocolate frog?"

"No thanks."

"Can we do magic on the train?" Lysander asked the room at large. Lily shrugged is response.

'"Yes, according to the _Hogwarts Student Handbook_, 'Magic is permitted on all school properties except for Platform 9/3,"' Rose droned, in what Lily liked to call her lecture tone.

"Well then, this will be a lot easier," Lysander said standing up. He turned around and shuffled through the overhead compartment till he pulled down his backpack. "I needed to test it."

"What is 'this' and 'it' exactly?" Rose inquired nervously, with reason too. When ever Lysander was vague, it was usually followed by a strange occurrence. For instance, when she went over to the Lovegoods in her second year, she had been shocked and horrified to find his room filled with petrified house elf heads. He had mentioned he had begun a collection.

Lysander continued his search till he extracted a large gnarly staff from his backpack.

"You brought it to school?" Albus asked horrified

"How did that fit in there?" Louis asked.

"What the bloody centar's period is that?" Camille chided in.

"To answer Louis's question first: magical expanding charm._ I really don't know why you all haul around enormous trunks_. And to answer the next: this, dear Camille, is a magical staff," he said, holding the staff over his head like a newly baptized baby.

"You brought it to school?"

"You knew he had a staff?" Rose asked him, with her arms crossed. "How am I the last to know about this?"

"I didn't know either," Lily said defensively.

"Me neither," Camille said.

"I got it yesterday, in Knockturn Alley," Lysander responded smiling.

"Why were you there?" Rose drilled.

"A bet."

"With whom?" Rose asked, while glaring at Albus and Louis, who were both determinedly avoiding her gaze. "Never mind, I know the answer. But Lysander! Why would you get a staff from Knockturn Alley? Not only is it dangerous, but the thing probably doesn't work!"

"I'm sure it works just fine," Lysander responded smoothly. "It supposed to have all the cores, making it three times as powerful."

"Wands don't work that ways!"

"Sure they do!" Lysander piped up. "_Lumos_!"

A faint bluish glow emitted from the end of the staff, illuminating Rose's infuriated face.

"_Why would you test your black-market boughten and homemade staff while pointing it at me?_"

"Erm, I'm going to go find my girlfriend…" Louis said standing up.

"Me too. I mean, I'm going to go. But not find his girlfriend," Albus added in. They both stood up and inched out of the compartment. Lily itched to leave with them, but didn't think Tamsin would want her back till she asked Rose about Lorcan.

"Oh no you don't! Why would you make a bet with Lysander to make him to buy a staff–"

"_Goodbyeloveyou!_" Louis said before running out of the compartment with Albus.

"Ugh," Rose moaned, turning to face Lysander. "Please tell me you still have your wand too?"

"Nope."

* * *

They were walking off the train in their robes, she peered around for Tamsin, but couldn't find her. Rose grabbed her by the arm, with Camille stood to her left.

"Hey Lils, are you coming along?" She asked me. "Or are you going with Tamsin?"

"I'll see her at school anyways," she responded. Rose went to go get a carriage, Lysander leaned in and said something to her before taking off to a carriage which held Louis, his girlfriend, her friends, and Albus. Rose visibly rolled her eyes. Camille and Lily approached the frustrated redhead, who was standing in line for a carriage.

"What was that about?" Camille asked.

"He's still frustrated that I went off on him about the staff. You don't think I was being too scathing?" Rose asked them.

"It's a staff Rose. People are going to tear the mickey out of him in class," Lily said to her. "You were doing him a favor."

"Don't ask me!" Camille said raising her arms up in a defensive motion. "I'm a single child with no cousins, and therefore no idea how to deal with this shit."

"Well, I suppose I ought to apologize," Rose sighed before boarding a carriage that just pulled up in front of them. Just then a girl passed by quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid detection from Rose.

"Ashleigh!" Rose bellowed from the carriage. "Hey! Ride with us!"

The girl looked at the carriage and then to Rose. She shrugged and boarded it.

"Hey I haven't seen you the entire summer!" Rose exclaimed as the carriage began moving. "How have you been? Anything new?"

"My hair grew a few centimeters," Ashleigh responded.

"Dude you've lost weight," Camille remarked with neither with approval or disapproval, but just as an observation. Ashleigh shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"I suppose," there was a small pause after that.

"I'm so jealous," Lily sighed. "I only seem to be going up in the kilos."

"Well you are getting older and taller," Ashleigh said dryly. "It's not necessarily something to be proud of anyways."

"Easy for you to say," Lily glowered. Ashleigh had supermodel looks. She had dark skin and darker eyes. She also had a tall and thin frame that Lily envied. She was average, reaching 5 foot 3 even after her growth spurt. Hypothetically she could be slim, but it would require her to cut down her diet even more.

"Well, what have you been up to?" She asked the group.

"Well, I spent the summer in Australia with my aunt and cousins," Camille said. "Then I went to that _Last Days of Freedom _bash that James threw a few nights ago."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask why you didn't come?" Rose chimed in curious.

"Well, I forgot till it was already an hour past."

"It wasn't that great anyways, a bunch of underclassmen came as well."

"Aren't you an underclassman?" Camille asked lily, with her brows raised.

"You know what I mean, like third years," Lily said defensively.

"Your brother invited third years?" Ashleigh asked disbelievingly. "There's booze at those, right?"

"Only two came, because they were related to one of his teammates," Rose said rolling her eyes. "I made them leave within the hour."

**Scorpius**

"…then I went to the village with Marcus and we bumped into Ben! Can you believe it? Ben came over and starting yelling at me telling me I was a slag. Of course I wasn't happy about that, so I yelled at him. He got real mad then and then took a swing at Marcus!"

"Enthralling," Scorpius said, his hand partially covering his mouth to hide his grimace.

"You should hear it twice, and then once again written in a letter," Tamsin deadpanned. "You also left out the bit about the crying."

"Oh yeah! The crying was great!" Holland agreed enthusiastically and went on a tangent about how many boys she had seen crying before.

Scorpius cut a look at Frank and saw that he was nodding off against the headrest of his carriage's seat. Holland's long monologues put Frank to sleep but, and gave Scorpius a chance to think about things. Particularly things that were bothering him. And more Particularly Rose Weasley.

It was a strange concept to him, thinking about her at all. Many months had passed where he had even heard her name. In his first year he had thought about Rose Weasley a lot. His father had warned him to keep his distance, so he naturally became more curious. Though, to anyone who knew anything about the Malfoy family, the warning may seem like a result of old prejudices. But it wasn't.

According to Frank's father, Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy had been a changed man after the war. For the most part, his father had shielded Scorpius from his family's past. It wasn't till three years before starting Hogwarts he had learned the truth: that his family name had a dark past. A past of prejudice tied to blood purity.

The idea of different types of blood shocked him. At first, he had thought it was absurd that anyone could actually believe such a thing. But small memories began to resurface. Like when he was six and he had been at Tamsin's house playing hide and seek. Her father and mother, Theodore and Pansy Nott, had been sitting at a table in the drawing room listening to the news on the radio, Scorpius had been hidden underneath a coffee table.

"Muggle's Rights Activists want us to start teaching magic to Muggles!" he exclaimed. "What's next? We already let the mudbloods–"

"Theodore!" Pansy Parkinson warned, while her eyes scanned the room. "Not while Draco's boy is here."

It was later, he learned, that his father had warned all his friends and family to keep Scorpius ignorant about the Blood Wars. And Tamsin had also somewhat out of the loop, since her parents never directly told her anything. Occasionally she would overhear their discussions and opinions about new movements regarding Muggles and Muggleborns. Frank had been completely out of the loop like Scorpius. Only his family history was only loosely tied to the war. Unlike the Mafloys who were the infamous Muggle haters.

It took him a bit to process everything he had learned about blood purity, but a day later he came back to his father with questions.

"Then why is it called being a pureblood? Can you have dirty blood?" A young scorpius had asked his father.

"No, you cannot," his father said firmly. "Don't use the term dirty or pure when referring to blood either."

After that, his father had started treating him more grown up. Not quite an adult, but also no longer like a child. He had given Scorpius a laundry list of things not to say when he went to school. All regarding how he should act and talk to people, especially people who had family from the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Will people really call me a Deatheater?" he asked his father frightened.

"Only if you let them," he had responded. "Don't do anything threatening or get involved in anything bad. In fact, if you do get involved in the Dark Arts or something of that sort, you'll no longer be considered my son. Understand?"

Scorpius nodded, determined to make his father proud.

So when he had finally made it to the Platform 9/3 for the first time, he was quite nervous. He smiled at a few people who passed by, to show that he wasn't a threat. He looked up at his father, hoping he was doing an okay job. However, his father's gaze wasn't on him.

"So that's Hugo and Rose Weasley. I think only the girl will be starting school this year," he said to no one in particular.

His mother squeezed his shoulder to comfort him.

"They seem like nice people," she said.

"Yes, I'm sure. But try and stay away from them Scorpius? Grandfather would never forgive you if you drew any bad press to the family."

"Scorpius!" Tamsin yelled, waving her hand in front of his face. "Have you gone deaf? We're here!"

"Oh!" Scorpius said shocked, blinking at his surroundings. They had pulled up to the front gate of Hogwarts, Frank and Holland were already waiting next to the carriage to leave for the feast. He got up and out of the carriage.

They trudged through the pathway to the castle, passing by slower groups of students.

"Hey Nott!" a voice yelled from behind them. "I heard you were talking shit about my baby cousin!"

Tamsin spun around, nearly whipping Scorpius' face with her hair. Their group stopped to listen.

"Dominique Weasley? I was only joking around with her," Tamsin defended, then tilted her head in fake concern. "Was she offended?"

"And so was I!" Dominique said in horror. "How can you be so selfish and evil and live with yourself?"

"The same way you can you be so STD ridden live with yourself," Tamsin responded cooly. There was tangible tension in the air. Holland kept looking at one girl and then the other, like she was watching a duel.

Dominique threw back her head, and laughed.

"God I've missed you honey," she walked over and hugged Tamsin, which she reciprocated. "I was only joking before, of course you weren't serious about what you said to Rose."

"You weren't?" asked a confused Holland.

"Of course not!" Tamsin said. "Don't be thick Holland."

"Sorry," Holland mumbled before looking down.

"Well, I would love to catch up, but I have a a feast to tuck into."

"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."

"Yes you will," Dominique said, then she turned to Scorpius and winked. "You too maybe?"

"Maybe," he responded back quickly. She threw back her head and laughed again, making her long strawberry blonde hair dangle wildly.

"I do love younger men!" She laughed. "There so much more polite. Don't you agree Tammy?"

"I would agree, but Politeness bores me," she said smiling at the girl. "Wouldn't you say?"

"Yes too much of a good thing is sometimes just that: too much," Dominique finally spun around to return to her group of 7th year Hufflepuffs, who were waiting for her to finish. "Chow darling! Well see each other soon!"

"Well," Tamsin said, lightly running her hand through her hair. "I have missed her very much. Lets go too."

"Reason number three thousand I am glad I was born with a penis," Frank said to the group. Tamsin rolled her eyes and walked towards the Great Hall. Holland followed after her frantically.

"Looks like this year will be much of the same," Scorpius said dryly.

"Don't sound so depressed about it," Frank responded patting Scorpius on the back. He put his hand into his robe's pocket and pulled out a blunt. "Some traditions aren't all bad."

"Merlin, put that away Zabini!" Scorpius hissed under his breath, furtively glancing at their surroundings. "Do you want to get us expelled before we've even completed our O.W.L.s?"

"Relax," Frank responded lazily, stowing it into his pocket again. "No one's around us."

"You're right," Scorpius agreed, the coast was clear. Evidently, they had made it to the Great Hall. "Let's get going before we're dock points."

"Always the worrier."

They were walking to the Great Hall, and their pathway was empty of any other students, leaving Scorpius anxious. Him and Frank were moving so fast, they nearly ran into Albus Potter and Lysander Scamander. Who looked to be in the midst of an argument.

"Bloody Hell!" Albus yelled, when Scorpius crashed into him.

"Pardon," Scorpius apologized automatically.

"Oh so you _do_ have the ability to apologize," Albus said to him in wonder. "I'll have to pass that along to my cousin, Roxanne."

Scorpius stiffened at the comment.

"I'm sure she will be thrilled to know of your inclination to sniff around in her business," Scorpius retorted. "I'll tell her next time we meet."

Scorpius tried to pass, but Albus moved in his way.

"You're not going to _see_ her, or any of my relatives anymore," Albus threatened, his friend Lysander looked a bit alarmed at the escalating tension. "Got it?"

"Look mate, I can't control who your cousin sleeps with," Scorpius said defensively. "It's pretty damn pathetic that you're meddling in her business. Isn't she older than you too?"

"And older than you!" Albus said, getting red in the face. "I know your type Malfoy, and I won't have you screwing my cousins for sport anymore."

"Well, I guess there's still his sister–" Frank added in cheekily. Albus pulled out his wand his wand so quickly a piece of parchment flew out of his pocket. Scorpius and Frank mimicked him (with the wand, not parchment).

"Come on Albus, let's act rational here," Scorpius bargained. "It would be so stupid to duel right in front of the Great Hall."

"Yeah Albus, we should get going," Lysander urged his friend. "The food's going to be cold."

"I was only joking about your sister," Frank said, then a small smirked formed on his face. "Your mum on the other hand–"

"Albus!" Lysander yelled as his friend raised his wand. "_Expelliarmus_!"

"_Why did you disarm me?_" Potter asked his friend in angry confusion. Scorpius had been disarmed as well, but made no move to retrieve it from the ground.

"Did you just pull out a staff?" Frank asked, in even more confusion.

"Frank, let's go _now_," Scorpius hissed, dragging Frank by the back of his robes.

"_This isn't done between us Malfoy!_"

Frank and Scorpius slipped into the Great Hall as quietly as possible. Of course the doors were massive though, so they still caused a disturbance.

"Did you take a wrong turn?" Tamsin asked, as they sat down. "You missed sorting."

The Hall's doors opened again when Scamander and Potter walked in. Potter shot Malfoy a dirty look as he sat down in the Gryffindor table.

"Bloody hell," Scorpius muttered, before digging into his meal. Frank used the rest of the meal to retell their thrilling tale to the rest of the table, getting a good laugh out of most of them. It was only after dessert came out that Scorpius thought of retrieving his wand. He excused himself and got up from the table.

He was able to slip out of the Great Hall more easily since everyone was involved in their food.

When he stepped into the hallway, he scanned the ground for his wand. It was at the edge, wedged in a crack in the stone floors. He pried it out and twisted in his fingers, glad to have it back in his grasp. He was about to go back to the the Great Hall, until spotted the parchment that fell out of Albus' pocket before. Curious, Malfoy walked up to it, and picked it up.

It was obviously an old piece of paper. It was folded a number of times, and each fold was well worn. Some areas looked strangely new, which made Scorpius think that it had been mended several times.

When he completely folded it out, it was a fairly large piece of parchment, not at all practical for writing anything. Maybe for a project or presentation. Another odd thing about it was that it was completely blank.

Scorpius looked back at the Great Hall's doors and decided that he didn't care to listen to whatever address the Head Mistress had prepared. If she had anything important to say, he would have heard it during the Prefect meeting. So he decided to head back to the common room, and perhaps take another look at the strange parchment.

* * *

**Thanks for reading till the end. I would greatly appreciate any reviews because I have no idea if anyone actually likes this story. If it is a lost cause, just let me know and I'll start something new. Thanks!**


	3. Three: Discovering

**Sorry for not writing more. I've been trying to produce a page a day and it's been a slow process. I'll hopefully continue with the page a day thing and get another one up soon. Unless you all were actually happy when I stopped writing. But, as the great philosopher Cyrus once said: **_**We can't stop, we won't stop**_**… **_**ect.**_

**Disclaimer: All this stuff belongs to JoRow.**

**Chapter 3: Discovering**

**Scorpius**

Scorpius was sprawled on his four-poster bed. There were 25 minutes before class, and as usual Frank was using every minute of it to primp himself. And for once, Scorpius was not annoyed about it, because something else was preoccupying his time.

The parchment he had found the night before was still held his fascination, even though it remained completely blank. He kept tapping it with his wand, hoping to coax a reaction out of it. But it stubbornly remained clear of any markings (aside from its aggressive discoloration). It probably would make more sense to chuck the thing since it was _just _a blank piece of parchment. But his intuition was telling him to keep trying. And his intuition was rarely wrong: he wasn't first in the year for nothing.

"Bloody shit, have you started reviewing already?" Frank said as he walked out of the dorm's attached bathroom, bringing in the smell of cologne with him.

"No, just a letter from home," Scorpius replied, while folding away the paper under his pillow. "Are you ready to leave? At this rate well be late for midnight astronomy as well."

"Hold your wand, I've got one more thing to," Frank shuffled through his trunk till he procured his tie, which he then proceeded to put it on. "Let's go."

Both of them ran to the Great Hall, Scorpius spending the entire walk mumbling about Frank making them late.

"Well if you had woken me up earlier…" he said defensively.

"Bloody hell, I'm not you're mum Zabini," Scorpius said. "Entering the fifth year, you should have obtained the capability to set an alarm."

"With all this bitching, you might as well be my mum," he muttered. "Speaking of which…"

"So, you two were running late, Dominique said you may have gotten to class earlier. Shows how well she knows you two," Tamsin said as the approached the Great Hall's doors. "Breakfast ended a minute ago."

"Shit," Frank said under his breath, Scorpius sighed while cutting Frank with a scathing look.

"Don't worry, as usual I have you two covered," she reached into her stylish (and presumably expensive) side bag and pulled out two wrapped sandwiches. "I hope you two like your orange jelly, because that's all that was left."

"Food is food," Frank said, eagerly unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite out of it.

"So you did end up eating with Dominique?" Scorpius asked and began their trek to class. "How was that?"

"Interesting," Tamsin said with no real infliction. "And interesting that you should also find her interesting too."

"I don't find her interesting," Scorpius said. "I was only as trying to create conversation."

"I find her interesting," Frank said, breaking away from his sandwich.

"I think you meant you found her _ass_ interesting," Scorpius said, Tamsin shot him a look resembling disapproval.

"Oh, like you find her interesting in any real way either!" Frank said. "You, me and the ice queen all know that the only thing you'd find interesting about her is what she has in her knickers."

Scorpius didn't deny it, but for some reason the statement rubbed him the wrong way.

"When was the last time you had a girlfriend?" Frank pressed on.

"I haven't ever had a girlfriend," Scorpius said. "You, me and _Tamsin _all know this, so I don't know why I need to repeat it."

"That's my point Scorp, you've never had a girlfriend and should probably consider it. Players scare the birds away like Blast-ended Skrewts mate. And Dominique Weasley would be a great one to keep around."

"Thanks for the advice, but I don't think I'm going to get a girlfriend just for appearance's sake," Scorpius said back.

"You've been awfully quiet Tamsin, what do you think about Scorpius' terminal bachelorhood?"

"I could careless. I'm just wondering why you care for my opinion?"

"Women love this kind of talk: gossip and relationships."

"I'll try and ignore that blatant sexism, and just give you each a tidbit of advice," she leaned in and lowered her voice. "The only thing more dull than hearing Holland Vane going on about boys, is hearing you two talking about girls."

**Rose  
**

Rose had Herbology with the Gryffindor's. Luckily, that meant she had class with Lysander and Albus, along with the people she hung out with in her house: Camille, Ashleigh, Louis and Lorcan. It used to be the ideal class where they all were able to sit and gossip together. There was a visible blemish within the otherwise perfect setting, which was the lack of Lorcan.

Rose was perfectly happy with the lack of Lorcan, but there was a visibly awkward atmosphere after he sat next to the other Ravenclaw boys instead of next to the rest of them. She did her best to ignore it, but occasionally caught Camille staring at her with concern. Rose raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged noncommittally in return.

The rest of the class was talking, even Lorcan, but their little group remained in a type of silence only brought on by an enormous dancing elephant in the room.

"Do any of you have a knife I can borrow?" Rose finally said, breaking the silence.

"Why?" Albus asked nervously.

"To cut my wrists and escape this wretched misery," Rose said, he didn't laugh. "Oh come on. Do you expect me to burst into tears every time I see him? It's been three months."

"Oh, we don't think you'd burst into tears, you're too tough for that, but maybe a few angry glares would be tolerable," Louis said in the place of Albus, while handing her his knife. She grabbed it from his hand and began to cut off the dead leaves on the Dittany plant in front of her.

"I'm not angry," Rose said calmly. "You all need to stop blowing things out of proportion."

"I think you're blowing things under proportion Rosie," Lysander said. "My sweet brother dumped you right after…" he broke off, looking around the class to make sure no one was listening in. It didn't seem so. Though, the Hogwarts crowd was so sneaky that there would be no telling either way.

"Say that louder, I'm not sure Professor Longbottom heard you."

"Let's just drop it," Camille finally said, stepping in for her. "The girl says she's fine."

"The _girl _is also stubborn though," Albus said, Camille threw a handful of manure at him, successfully shutting him up as he cursed under his breath and slapped at his robes to get the dirt off.

The rest of class passed with casual conversation, mostly revolving around Lysander's staff. He had tried to conjure water using it, but ended up hitting Cassie Melborn's head on accident.

As Rose packed her things at the end of class, she was surprised when Professor Longbottom asked her to stay behind. She signaled at Camille and Louis to go without her.

"Hey Rose, how are your parents?" He asked as she walked up to him. His hair seemed to have grown out since the last time she saw him (strange combination for his slightly balding head). He looked a bit more refreshed too. Neville Longbottom had come a long way since his early days at Hogwarts, or so she heard from her parents. The only Neville Longbottom she knew was the world traveling badass who had crossbred eighteen varieties of magical plants.

"Good, they've been busy at the Ministry. The masses have been rather rowdy lately," she responded jokingly. "How was Syria? Did you find any new interesting plants?"

"I'm afraid not," he said, moving a. "I spend most of the time off the field, shadowing a few experiments conducted on cacti. I actually had something important to talk to you about…"

Rose froze in place, palms sweating slightly. Her professor was a good family friend, and most of her good family friends all seemed to ask the same question: _how are you and Lorcan_?

To which she would respond, "_I'm good! Lorcan's great! Especially since the break-up. The last time I saw him I had a proper suntan! HAha!_"

You'd think that her only redeeming feature was her boyfriend. It was natural, she supposed, that it would be on people's minds. Everyone thought they would get married like Teddy and Victoire. They _had_ gone out for two years. But her rational thoughts did little to ease her irritation.

"I was wondering if you would want to run the Herbology club this year?" He said instead.

Then again, he probably observed enough during class to know that they weren't on good terms.

At first she was relieved that he hadn't asked the other question, but then her brain started to do some mental calculations.

"Erm, I'm not sure Professor… I have a lot of work this year since becoming a Prefect, and running the Potions club as well," she said, while watching disappointment flash across his face. A bucket of guilt dumped into her stomach. "But if I just drop down the potion meetings to once a week it should be fine. Most of us are fifth years anyways, and need time to study for O.W.L.s."

"Are you sure?" He asked concerned. "Shouldn't you be studying for O.W.L.s to too?"

"Professor, I'm the top in all classes… I'd be quite fine to not study."

A small grin spread across his face, "okay, if you think you can handle it, then I won't try and stop you."

"Are the meetings still on Tuesdays?" Rose asked him.

"Yes, the first one doesn't need to be next week. You can give everyone a week or two to settle into their routines," he said, moving to the broom in the corner of the room. "I need to sweep all this pixie manure off the ground before the second years come in."

"I'll leave you to it then," Rose left the classroom smiling, and with a feeling of apprehension brewing in her stomach. Leading another club was going to put a serious strain on her time.

"Hey, I thought you weren't ever going to leave," a voice said to her as she stepped out of the class's door.

Rose turned and saw the voice belonged to Lorcan, though she would have recognized the voice without seeing him. Maybe even without hearing him, the vibrations his breath would probably be familiar enough. And in the time she turned, she forgot about the break-up and the circumstances of their current relationship, and was sent back to the time when it was normal for him to wait for her after class.

But of course right now it was not normal.

"What are you doing out here Lorcan?" She asked him exasperated.

"I just wanted to talk," he said nervously tugging on his collar, which was uncharacteristically buttoned to the top.

Rose snorts.

"Really? You want to talk to me?"

Lorcan's eye averted from her face for a moment before looking back at her.

"Yes, is that strange?"

"Yes a little, since you did your best to avoid me the entire summer." She had really didn't want to come off as hostile, but it seemed to have slipped out of her anyways.

"I'm sorry about that," Lorcan said sincerely. Rose tried to maneuver her way around him, but he blocked her way and gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"Rose, I really want to apologize about how things ended."

"_That's nice_," she gritted while shaking his hand off her shoulder. "Now if you don't mind I have to go to class."

She walked away, without looking back at the boy who had broken her heart a few months prior. He hadn't broken her heart though, not really. He had just been a stupid childhood crush. Just some stupid boy she didn't care for anymore. Then why were tears burning in her eyes?

She violently dried them on her sleeve and took a deep breath, before entering potions class. She took a seat next to Camille, who shot her with a confused look, Lorcan came in without looking at her, and sat next to the Hufflepuff Prefect Albert.

Good, things were better this way: with Lorcan on one side of the classroom and her on the other. Hopefully they would continue to ignore each other until they both graduated. Or until they were both dead. Yes, dead would be the best.

**Lorcan**

The day had finally ended, and he was able to walk back to the common room. Most of the day was spent ignoring Rose and dodging glares from members of his family. Now he finally had a chance to be alone and think.

He wished he could have talked to her… kept her for one more minute and explained.

But then again he really couldn't give her a good explanation. He couldn't even really give himself an explanation.

Herbology had been awkward with Rose, Lysander, Camille and Louis. He was sure they wanted nothing to do with him now that he'd dumped Rose like that. It was nothing less than he deserved. But he knew the truth would only make them more disgusted with him.

**Scorpius**

It had nearly been half an hour since classes ended; Scorpius had stayed behind in potions to talk to Professor Slughorn.

"Scorpius, it's about time you joined the potions club," he said while magically clearing out the display cauldrons of their contents. "You're the best in the year, and can maybe encourage more of your peers to join."

He sighed loudly, making Slughorn chuckled.

"I'll think about it."

"No more of your thinking!" his professor complained. "You've been thinking for nearly five years! You have great potential my boy, but you never put in the extra effort."

Scorpius looked at the door longingly, and tried to think of a way out of the conversation. "Don't you have Rose Weasley running it? All her friends are a part of it anyways. You've got plenty of members."

"_Yes_, but they're all Gryffindors and Ravenclaws," he said.

"No Hufflepuffs?"

Slughorn laughed loudly, as if Scorpius had told him a very funny joke.

"We need a Slytherins, and someone who can draw more of your house in."

"Me?" Scorpius chortled. "I doubt anyone be tripping over themselves to get on board if I joined."

"More than you'd think," Slughorn said knowingly. "Then at least come to one of my parties."

"No offense Professor, but the Slug Club–" he cut himself off when he realized he had called it by its nickname.

Professor Slughorn waved off his panic with a laugh, "I may be old son, but I am not deaf. I am well aware of all your teenager's slang. So what do you think about joining either?"

"I'll really think about it professor!" Scorpius said, as he slid out of the classroom, and before he could protest further. Once he was a good distance away from the dungeons, he began to slow down his pace.

This was his favorite time of day, a little before the sunset. It was light enough to see everything properly, but not so early that the sun was uncomfortably hot. Not many students were out it the hallways, despite the fact it was well before curfew. Most probably had gone through temporary shock after suddenly being hit with Hogwarts' dense workload.

He had planned to take a short walk around the castle till he smacked, head first, into someone.

"Excuse me!" He said reflexively.

"Damn it!"

For a moment Scorpius thought he had ran into a ghost, but the he looked down.

"I don't need to re-break –" Rose froze as if she had just realized whom she was talking to. "Oh, it's you."

"Don't sound too excited," he responded back getting somewhat defensive.

"Don't worry, I won't," she bit back. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Walking away," Scorpius replied shortly before doing just that, leaving Rose Weasley behind.

It was strange, she seemed awfully short with him. Not that their relationship had ever been particularly impressive before. Scorpius thought that maybe him fixing her nose may have improved things. Clearly not. Not that he cared. Rose Weasley was like the bridge of his nose to his vision: visible but easily tuned out.

So he continued walking, clearing his thoughts and getting ready to relax. Or so he thought, till he made a turn into one of the corridors (a short cut to the Slytherin common room).

"–did you tell her?" a strained voice said. Scorpius spun around, but couldn't find the source of the voice. He then zeroed in on a broom cupboard not faraway from him. All he could hypothesis about the voice was that it belonged to boy. "I dunno how much longer I can keep your secret."

Evidently, Scorpius was listening in on a private conversation. The more nobel part of himself urged him to keep walking. But Scorpius hadn't been placed in Slytherin on accident. He cast a disillusionment charm and hid behind where the cupboard's door would open. He felt the charm slide over him like thick glue (not an entirely unpleasant feeling).

"Merlin Potter, It's only been a day," another voice said. "I haven't had the chance. I honestly was kind of hoping he would say something to her first."

"Did he say he would?" Potter said, though he wasn't sure which one.

A long pause followed the question, and someone shifted. Probably in discomfort.

"You haven't talked to him?" Potter asked in disbelief.

"I haven't had time!" the voice said, defensively. "I've written him numerous letters over the summer. He keeps dodging me between classes as well. He hasn't been in the common room."

"Look, this is _family_ we're talking about," he said grimly. "I wish you'd find a way to work this out. Or I'm likely to let something slip."

"Well, don't do that," the other voice said. "Lysander lost the Marauder's map, so I can't use it to track him down."

"_He lost the map?_" Potter asked distractedly. "Bone head, the things as big as a bloody troll! How did he manage that? Did he try _accio_?"

"I'll ask him, but for now, I've got to stake out the common room for him."

"Sure, do that."

"Did you use _Muffliato_ by the way?"

"_Muff-felatio_?" Potter asked. "Maybe."

The other boy sighed and the door started to open. Scorpius hectically lunged into one of the hallways, till it veered off to the right. He leaned against the wall as the sound of footsteps began to move closer to him. There was no way to hide what he had been doing. The only reason people used disillusionment charms was to listen into thing. He thought of running, but the sound would only draw more attention to him. Maybe the person wouldn't focus on him?

Finally the sound of steps turned the corner, and Louis Weasley appeared. His face was deeply creased, as if he were under a considerable amount of stress. He walked right passed Scorpius without giving him a second look.

Clearly Scorpius' disillusionment charms were stronger than he had anticipated.

Once, Louis was out of sight, Scorpius sighed deeply and silently removed his disillusionment charm.

"Out for an evening stroll?" Scorpius spun around, and was face-to-face with James Potter.

"Only on my way to my common room," Scorpius said smoothly, nodding towards behind his back. "The real question is: what are you doing down here?"

"Not continuing a conversation with a Slytherin ferret, that's for sure," he pushed past Scorpius and walked away, leaving him alone in the hall.

He wasn't sure about the subject the two boys were having but only one thing was sure: he'd had far too many interactions with the Potter and Weasley children.

Making a beeline to the common room, he muttered the password to the portrait and slid into his dorm room without drawing attention to himself. No one else was there, so he slid on his bed and pulled out the large parchment from under his pillow.

While the conversation he had overheard had been interesting, Scorpius was hardly interested in teenage dramas. In his eyes, there had only been one interesting piece of information.

The thing was as yellow and aged as ever. Scorpius brought it to his nose to smell: it had the aroma of an old tea bag. What had Potter called it in the cupboard? _The Marauder's Map_.

A map for pirates? That seemed unlikely, even laughable. Once again Scorpius pulled out his wand, but this time said: "I know you are the Marauder's map."

The map remained disappointingly blank. Scorpius was about to crumple it, and then small ruddy marks began to appear on the paper. It was as if the words were seeping out of the page.

_Our sacred name is only the first step young one…_

Scorpius' heart began beating faster. _Finally!_

"Will you show me yourself?" he asked the paper, while still pointing his wand at it.

_Show me yours and I'll show you mine…_

That was frustratingly unhelpful.

"I don't know what you mean?"

_It means there's a password dipshit_

Oh, then again a password wasn't really showing anything? Did it mean he needed to present it with an object.

"Do I need to give you something?"

Yes, _your soul–_

_Shut up Padfoot. Ignore him: you just need the password._

Apparently the magical parchment had schizophrenia as well. Wonderful. Before forgetting, he charmed the paper so it couldn't be summoned by anyone. Then Scorpius folded the parchment away carefully, and put it back under his pillow gingerly.

Scorpius got up to go to the common room, feeling rejuvenated. Finally there was something exciting to occupy his time. Homework and wooing girls used to be the only challenges he'd had in his life. Since mastering both, things had grown dull. Now he had a brand new challenge to occupy his time, one he planned on winning.

* * *

**Hey! Thanks for reading till the end and as the old wive's tale goes: review/favorite/comment or else you'll go blind… or something. I'm not in the creative mood at the moment. What I'm really trying to say is, please? I'm just a desperate girl writing stories about other people's stories to boost her shriveled ego. It's really shriveled. I used to have a moustache in high school.**


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